Teenage Kicks
by Solstice Muse
Summary: The story of the night Bill Weasley was left in charge at the Burrow and everything that can possibly go wrong for a 13 year old wizard babysitting six siblings.
1. Bill Weasley  Father of Six

**Teenage Kicks**

_A/N Beta'd by Sarah (PutMoneyInThyPurse) and dedicated to Mench who really needs cheering up right now (hugs mench)_

**Bill Weasley - Father of Six**

"How often do I ask for one night, Billy? Just one night for myself, that's all I want, and you begrudge me that, do you?"

"Please don't call me Billy, Mum," Bill groaned as he drowned in the guilt trip his mother was laying on as thickly as possible.

"Your father doesn't get the chance to have a night like this. He doesn't get invitations to Ministry functions and probably never will do again. One night Bill, just one night off, that's all I'm asking of you."

"Okay!" Bill huffed as he found it impossible to take the pitifully downtrodden look in his mother's eyes any longer.

Bill Weasley really hated babysitting and everything it entailed. He hated being the oldest, he hated that being the oldest didn't mean being the biggest, cleverest, funniest, cutest or the golden child who could do no wrong. Being the oldest meant he had to set the example. He had to watch his language. He had to change nappies and tell bedtime stories and stop fights and prevent accidental intra-sibling transfiguration while cooking and cleaning and _never_ having a girlfriend because he's far too young for that sort of thing!

He was too young to have a proper girlfriend but he wasn't too young to be the surrogate father of six when his mother was too tired or busy or bloody pregnant _again_! When his mother wasn't making doe eyes at him to give her a moment's respite from the Weasley family nightmare until he felt like an utter sod for even complaining about babysitting for just one night.

_Just one night_.

He could do this for just one night.

"Pretty boy over there is not telling me what to do!" Charlie declared with his arms folded and his eyes wide with outrage.

"Bill is in charge, and you are one of his charges, Charlie Weasley, so you will do exactly what he tells you when he tells you, and you will not complain, do you understand me?"

Charlie exhaled deeply and looked at his feet with a petulant pout that a big tough young wizard like him really wasn't able to pull off successfully.

"Yes Mum," he murmured, so low that it was barely even audible.

Bill watched as his mother patted Charlie on his cheek and stood on tip toes to plant a sloppy kiss there with her brazen red lipstick, leaving a mark that Charlie knew from experience wouldn't rub off for at least three days. Bill smirked at Charlie's embarrassment as he kissed his fingertips and then patted them onto his right buttock. Charlie waited for his mother to turn around to walk over to say goodbye to Bill in a similar fashion and then he mouthed the words _'kiss mine' _while making the wanker sign at his brother with a scowl.

"Thank you for this, Bill," his mother whispered as she hugged him tightly and gave him her own tattoo kiss mark on the cheek before frowning up at his messy hair, "You really will have to let me get this cut before you go back to Hogwarts, Bill, I'm sure it's against some kind of rule."

Bill shrugged his mother off with a huff, while Charlie silently chuckled and waggled his finger as if telling his brother off for letting the side down with his scruffy hair.

"Mum, will you lay off the hair for one second please?"

"Come on now, Molly," Bill was thankful for his father's interruption, "it's time to go. Don't worry Bill, I've caged the twins for you!"

Bill laughed at this while his mother looked horrified.

"You've what?"

"A joke Molly dear, only a little joke, a parting joke to our responsible sons before we...er, well...part."

"Nice save, Dad," Charlie grinned.

"Right well let me finish doing the rounds then, stop holding me up with all your silly nonsense," she fussed as she shoved her husband out of the way and Bill and Charlie shared a weary sigh as they followed her through to the kitchen where Fred and George were playing with something called a finger trap that their Dad had brought back for them from work. They were connected by their thumbs, their middle fingers, their little fingers and their big toes.

"As I said, Bill," their father smiled as he patted the delighted yet undeniably restrained twins on the head, "I've caged them for you."

"Cheers Dad!" Bill said as he watched his mother bending over at an odd angle to kiss each of them on the cheek and tell them to behave for their big brothers.

"For everyone 'cept Percy!" Fred yelled and George let out a gurgled giggle of agreement before losing his balance and falling over backwards, pulling Fred down with him.

There was a merry little chuckle from the far corner of the kitchen, and Bill saw something that would have been hysterical had it not been for the fact that he was now the one who had to deal with it. His baby brother Ronnie was standing in the corner on a copy of the _Daily_ _Prophet,_ dripping from head to foot with something brown and pungent.

"What on earth happened to you?" their mother exclaimed as she shook off her cloak, with no inclination to leave one of her children in that state while she went out gallivanting for the evening.

"Got dirty!" Ronnie said chirpily.

"How?" his mother demanded.

Ron looked at the twins and then back to his mother before putting his finger to his lips and making a shushing sound before whispering his response.

"Nobody pushed me into the compost," Ronnie said with wide eyes before looking back at Fred and George and whispering even louder then his real speaking voice, "I told you I wouldn't tell on you."

"He's lying, Mum!" Fred said as he tried to point with one of his trapped fingers.

"He can't lie to save his life!" their mother boomed at the cowering twins, "I will see to you two when I get back."

She pulled her cloak back on and took their father's arm.

"Get me out of here before I change my mind, Arthur," she said tensely.

"Mummy?" Ron asked sadly as he seemed to wonder what he had done to make his mother so cross.

She melted immediately and leaned down low to search for a clean spot to kiss goodbye before simply blowing him a kiss into his face, which made him smile again.

"Be good Ronnie. You do whatever Bill tells you, all right?"

"Stay on the paper!" Ron said in a very dramatic deep voice before grinning jovially again.

"Excuse me?" his mother said as she stepped back to take in her son's rapidly swinging moods.

"'Swot Bill said, I'm staying on the paper so your floor don't get dirty."

"_Doesn't_ get dirty, Ronnie," his mother corrected him with a smile.

"It_ didn't!"_ Ronnie protested as he pointed around himself at the spotless floor.

Bill and Charlie shared an amused glance at each other as their mother gave up on the conversation with Ronnie altogether and looked around the kitchen for her two missing children.

"Where's the baby?" she blinked.

Ronnie's face fell and he looked at the twins again with wide eyes before looking back at his mother and seemed to be speaking while concentrating very hard at the same time.

"Ginny's on paper too."

The twins groaned and leaned into one another while their mother informed them that they would pay for whatever they had done to their baby brother and sister in more ways then they could imagine, just as Percy wandered into the kitchen and right into Ronnie, who stumbled off his newspaper and fell flat on his face, leaving a Ronnie-shaped brown splat on the kitchen floor.

Charlie laughed so hard that he could hardly stand, and had to stagger away into the living room to calm down, although he could still be heard through the walls howling as if this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his entire life so far.

"Ugh," Percy looked disgusted and began to wipe the foul smelling slime from his knee; "there's brown stuff on my trousers!"

"Never mind that dear," his mother said as she stepped over Ronnie, who was still stuck to the floor in a star shape, and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Bill will sort you all out when we're gone."

A new roar of laughter shook the foundations of the Burrow at this and Bill found himself trying to glare at his brother through the solid wall.

"But I can't use my wand outside of school. Can't you _Scourgify _'em both for me now mum?" Bill pleaded.

"What part of 'night off' seems to be escaping you Bill?" his father said with a cheeky wink as he took a step towards the back door of the Burrow.

"Bye bye then dears," their mother waved as their Dad opened the door for her to step outside and prepare to Disapparate, "behave yourselves for your brother, and kiss Ginny from me when she's clean, won't you?"

"Yeah bye Mum, bye Dad, have a good time!" Fred waved with George's arm.

"Oh and Bill," his father leaned in to him to nod down at Ronnie at their feet, "I've a crowbar in the broom shed if you need it. Do try not to leave him there for too long, he'll set."

With a friendly pat and a wink his father followed his mother out the door and closed it behind them. Bill listened until he heard the two cracks of his parents' Disapparation and turned to take in the disastrous sight that was the Burrow's kitchen. Charlie's laughter had subsided now, and he was carrying Ginny through to set her down in the kitchen table. She was covered in the same goop as Ronnie and wrapped in a blanket that was now welded to her body.

"I think her nappy needs changing, but how you're gonna get to it through all that is beyond me."

"Thanks Char," Bill said as he felt the first stirrings of a nervous breakdown brewing up inside of him.

"No problem, Billy-boy," Charlie said as he rubbed his hands together and waved to his collected siblings, "I'm off. Have fun."

"Oi!" Bill snapped as he jumped over the twins' tangled bodies and ran after Charlie down the hall, where he was standing at the front door and slipping on his jacket, "Where d'you think you're going?"

"Out," Charlie shrugged.

"Um...no you're not!" Bill said as if waiting for the punch line to what had to be a very bad joke.

"Um...oh yes I think I am!" Charlie mimicked with a broad grin as he opened the door.

"You are going to help me with this lot," Bill gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.

"You're going to make me are you pretty boy?" Charlie stepped up to look his brother in the eye.

"I'm older then you. I'm in charge, you heard Mum."

"Yeah well you're also shorter then me and weaker then me and you know what else? Right now 'gorgeous'...mum's not here so I'm off out for the evening and you're gonna do sod-all to stop me_...'cause you can't!"_

Bill seethed as his brother smirked and swung the door closed behind him.

"Be good for Mummy Billy, children!" he called just before the door shut.

Bill stared at the closed front door and wished he had a different life and a different family. Then he took a deep breath in and turned to begin chiselling his siblings apart.


	2. Poxy Kids

**Poxy Kids**

Bill scrubbed Ginny's face with a wet flannel while cursing Charlie's name and hoping that the rash his vigorous cleansing was bringing up on his baby sister's perfect skin would fade by the time his mum and dad came home.

He could see it now. Mum creeps up into her little princess' bedroom, leans over the cot to kiss her sleeping angelic form goodnight and screams in horror at the sight of a human radish, waking the whole household.

He turned to see Ronnie using his dirty hands to make a picture on the huge roll of parchment Percy had laid out across the floor for him. Bill thanked Merlin for Percy at times like these. He could always depend on him to come through for the family. _He'd_ never walk out on them when they needed him most.

"What's this one, Ronnie?" Percy was saying as he pointed to a brown smear that Ronnie was adding finger marks around while pulling a face of enormous concentration.

"Hedgepig," Ron said as he scrunched up his nose and poked his tongue out between his teeth.

"Hedge_hog_ Ronnie, can you say hedgehog?" Percy was always encouraging Ron and Ginny to talk properly. Charlie was always encouraging them to talk gobbledegook, it was an ongoing war of which Percy always seemed to be on the losing end.

"Muh-huh," Ronnie said as he drew the hedgehog's pointy nose while squinting in concentration

"Well can you say it for me now? Hedge-hog," Percy said as he held his breath expectantly.

"No," Ron muttered before drawing a circle with his finger.

"Give it up, Perce," Bill sighed as he looked back into Ginny's big eyes. He laughed as he saw her licking the bar of coal tar soap and then pulling the most revolted face you could ever imagine seeing on a two-year-old, "there's no need to distract him when he's occupying himself like that."

"I'm not distracting him. I'm talking to him," Percy said, more affronted then a seven year old really had any right to be.

"And he's drawing a picture of a great fat turd with a worm crawling out of it in compost. I really don't think you and Ronnie are communicating on the same level, do you?" Bill snapped while Ginny giggled and a string of tiny bubbles floated up to the surface of the water. "Oh Gin...be a lady, will you?"

"'S not a turd, it's an apple!" Ron said grumpily, pointing from his hedgehog to his supposed apple and muttering to himself in that sickeningly adorable way of his, "Apple for the hedgepig."

"Hedgepi-" Percy began before shaking his head to correct himself, "Hedgehogs eat slugs, Ronnie, not apples."

Ronnie looked at Percy as if he was insane, and Bill lifted Ginny out of the sink and plonked her down on a waiting towel to dry her.

"There you go beautiful, isn't that better?" Bill smiled as he dried and tickled the baby at the same time.

He noticed that the nasty red patches were still quite prominent and rubbed a little more gently so as not to aggravate her delicate skin any more.

"Your turn next, Ronnie," Bill called over his shoulder.

"No!" Ron said before frowning hard at one of his mucky footprints on the parchment and tilting his head at an angle thoughtfully.

'No' was Ronnie's favourite word these days. He said it to everyone in response to almost everything, and he would say it with such clipped determination too.

"Yes," Bill said wearily as he passed his clean sibling to Percy and bent down to pick Ronnie up off the floor, "you can't stay like that all night, can you?"

Ronnie tried to squirm out of Bill's hands, but he was lifted up and lowered into the grimy sink.

"Is dirty!" Ronnie complained.

"Well you shoulda gone first then shouldn't you?" Bill said, tetchily.

"No!" Ronnie snapped, and splashed some of the disgusting brown water into Bill's face.

"Oi, you little brat!" Bill blinked the water from his eyes while Ronnie laughed wickedly, "I'll put you over my knee when you're cleaned up."

"Won't!" Ron said as he tried to splash Bill again.

Bill caught his baby brother's arm before he could thrust it forward and leaned in close. He adopted his most fierce expression and growled into Ronnie's face.

"Try me, brat!"

Ron suddenly got that look on his face that reminded Bill so much of Fred and George just before they were about to so something destructive, and vowed to keep the little ones apart more often in the future.

"Mummy didn't say you could smack. You're not 'loud to," Ronnie smiled smugly in a way the reminded him of that git Charlie.

"Well what she doesn't know _will_ hurt you Ronnie," Bill found himself saying with menace.

For a moment Ronnie looked as if he was going to blow a big raspberry into Bill's face and call his bluff. Of course Bill would never hit one of the babies, he'd kill anybody else who ever tried, but he must have been quite convincing as something happened that he was never really equipped to deal with.

Ronnie's bottom lip trembled and he started crying.

"You big bully!" Percy snapped as he set Ginny down on the kitchen table and nudged Bill aside to take over cleaning Ronnie, "It's alright Ronnie, nobody's going to smack you."

Bill felt like screaming the bloody house down.

"I wasn't going to!" he protested, "I was just trying to make him behave himself."

Ronnie was sniffing and grizzling as Percy shushed him and rubbed the compost residue away as gently as he could. The sound of her brother crying set Ginny off and soon Bill was trapped in a kitchen with two screaming toddlers, an irate maternal seven year old boy and a floor covered in hedgepigs eating turd apples.

He picked Ginny up and carried her out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom. He passed by the twins on the landing. They were rolling around and kicking out at each other, declaring that one was copying the other. Bill just stepped over them wearily and continued onwards to Ginny's room.

He set Ginny down in her cot and stroked her damp hair flat where it had started to curl a little around her face. As his hand brushed past her soft skin he felt a bump, then another. He leaned in close and peered down into Ginny's face, her eyelids drifting shut as he did so, and saw that she was blistering where every one of those sore patches had been.

"Shit, did I do that?" Bill hissed at himself.

"Ssit!" Ginny mumbled lazily as she tried to mimic his curse.

Bill grabbed one of Ginny's arms to examine it and saw the firm little blisters, like oval pearls, dotted all over her skin there too.

"No, no, no, no!" he began to chant the mantra of all reluctant babysitters everywhere.

There was the sudden sound of footsteps thundering up the stairs, and Bill spun around on the spot to see Percy stopping in the open doorway, holding a naked, squirming Ron ahead of him in great alarm.

"Bill, Ronnie's got..." he began before stopping as he saw Bill drop to his knees and grab handfuls of his hair in both his hands.

"_No!"_ he whimpered, on the verge of copying Charlie and just walking out of the house altogether.

The twins, looking very sweaty from their play fight - Fred seemed to have lost one of his baby teeth in the process - scampered to the door and clung to Percy's legs anxiously.

"What's wrong with Bill?" George said nervously.

"There's...nothing...wrong...with...Bill!" the eldest Weasley said as he pounded out every word with his clenched fist on the floor.

Fred stepped forward and frowned at his baby sister's bedroom floor before stamping on it with determination just once and then looking to Bill for approval. Bill lost his utter hopelessness and patted Fred on the shoulder with a tired smile. Fred seemed pleased with himself and stamped again, this time with two feet.

"No, Fred, you can stop now, it's all right," he wondered how to explain his mini breakdown, "the floor's...behaving now. Thanks for your help, though."

Percy took a step into the room, still holding his nude baby brother ahead of him as if he was about to explode, and dragged George along with him, as he was still clinging to his leg.

"I think Ronnie's got dragon pox!" Percy said, while Ronnie looked even grumpier.

"I'm not poxy!" he snapped.

Fred backed away, crossing his fingers in the way he did when he was playing tag, and declaring that he wasn't 'it'.

"Ronnie's got the lurgee!" George said with a grimace and the twins ran from the room and into their own to barricade themselves in with their toy chest.

Bill took Ronnie in his arms and sighed.

"Ginny's got it too, it just came up."

Ronnie wriggled himself over Bill's shoulder to look down into his sister's cot. He pointed his finger at her accusingly.

"You made me poxy!"

"Come now, Ronnie," Percy was saying as he moved around to meet Ronnie's eyes, "Ginny didn't do anything on purpose, did she? And for all we know it might have been you who gave it to her."

Bill couldn't quite fathom how Percy was delivering this information to their spotty brother as if he was supposed to be pleased with this news.

"'S not my fault," Ronnie said with a whimper.

"No, little man, it's not," Bill said as he pulled Ronnie down into the cradling position, "he didn't mean it like that. Percy was just saying it was nobody's fault."

"What the hell happened to my face?" Charlie's voice boomed from the doorway.

He stood there, looking absolutely livid, and gestured to the small patches of pearl-like blisters all over his cheeks. Bill wanted to swing for his selfish git of a brother and thrust Ronnie into Percy's arms before marching over to meet Charlie nose-to-nose.

"This is _your_ fault!" he bellowed.

"What is?" Charlie asked as he took a step back away from Bill.

"The pox!" Bill exclaimed, "You bought the pox into this house and then infected the little ones and buggered off!"

Charlie blinked and leaned around Bill to see his sleeping baby sister in a similar condition to himself and little Ronnie writhing in Percy's arms, greatly disgusted at being passed from brother to brother while erupting in similar blisters himself. Bill stepped right into Charlie's face again.

"I hope all those blisters merge together to form the word 'Git' across your forehead, because that's what you are!"

"You wannna get out of my face sharpish, pretty boy," Charlie warned.

"Or what?" Bill smirked, "You'll infect me? I've already had it, smart arse!"

"Well you've already had a broken nose, but I'm sure I could give that to you again!" Charlie bumped against Bill's much smaller chest with his own.

"Knocking out the babysitter and giving the babies he's sitting dragon pox, that's _really_ gonna endear you to Mum, isn't it? You'll never get that new broom now, _Charles!"_

"Stop it!" Percy yelled as Ginny began to cry and Ronnie started punching at Percy and ordering him to put him down.

"Not until this tosser pulls his weight!" Bill declared over his shoulder to a very pale looking Percy.

As Bill's face turned back towards Charlie, almost in slow motion, he saw the twins peeping around the side of their bedroom door and gasping. His eyes met Charlie's fist just before he felt a deep thunderous whump inside his head and then didn't see or feel a thing.


	3. The Snugglegut Family

**The Snugglegut Family**

Fred and George were merrily re-enacting Charlie punching Bill out for Ginny, who squealed with delight every time the twin playing Bill hit the floor pulling a comical dazed face.

Percy was holding a pound of minced lamb to the bridge of Bill's nose - there hadn't been steak in the house for years as it was far too pricey - while Charlie paced back and forth, bouncing a snivelling Ronnie in his arms and trying to distract him with a game entitled 'count the dots on Charlie's face'.

"I didn't really hurt him, Ronnie," Charlie was saying as he wiped his little brother's tear-stained, pox ridden cheek, "we were just playing, like Fred and George are now."

Bill stared up at his brother and wished he had the mobility in his eyebrows to scowl at him right at that moment.

"Don't excuse violence as if it's a game, Charlie," Percy said scornfully as he stepped back from Bill to reach over and take Ronnie from his physically biggest brother.

"No!" Ronnie protested against leaving Charlie's arms for Percy's.

"He doesn't want you mothering him, Perce, leave him alone!" Charlie said as he tugged Ronnie back and held him tightly to his chest.

"You're not my mummy!" Ronnie said, sounding grumpy even muffled into Charlie's shoulder.

"This isn't a popularity contest, Char!" Bill snapped as he threw down the minced lamb to stare at Charlie through blackening eyes.

"Well if it was, _you_ certainly wouldn't be in charge, panda boy!" Fred and George rolled about the floor laughing at that.

"Pandy boy!" Ginny yelled out with delight.

"Give him to me, I need to get the three of you seen to by a mediwitch," Bill huffed as he reached out his own arms for Ronnie.

"No!" Ronnie snapped again, clinging to Charlie so tightly that he almost strangled him, "I want my poxy brother!"

Fred and George laughed again.

"Well you're right there Ronnie, you've definitely got one of them. You have one hell of a _poxy_ brother!" Bill yelled before stomping into the kitchen to floo for a general family mediwitch to make a house call.

Bill was fuming now. His head hurt, he had two black eyes and his nose felt as if it had dented. He threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace to call for their family mediwitch. Madam Knight was very gentle, but also a total snitch, and Bill knew that news of his punch-up with Charlie would reach his mother and he'd be for it for fighting when he was supposed to be in charge of the babies. He snorted at the thought that at least Charlie would go down with him for that one.

They had been at each other's throats all summer long. It was easy to stay out of his way when they were at school, but now they were constantly in each other's faces and hating every minute of it. They had used to be so close, almost inseparable, but now it was as if they were strangers who were forced to reside under the same roof.

Charlie would always be bringing up the fact that the girls went giddy around Bill and that his mother was _constantly_ rhapsodising about how beautiful he was to anyone who'd listen. Then Bill would have Charlie's build and height and general tough demeanour brought up by his friends whenever he had any trouble. 'Go and ask Charlie to sort them out for you'. 'Charlie'll kick their arses if you tell him'. 'How come Charlie looks so much older then you'?

How did you tell someone like Charlie to behave and leave the kids alone? How did you order him to help you out with the babies? How did someone like Bill tell someone like Charlie to shut his fat smug mouth and do as he's bloody well told?

Bill pulled his head out of the fireplace and turned around to see Charlie standing behind him, still holding Ronnie in his arms, with both eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Well?" he said.

"Well, what? She said she'd come as soon as she could," Bill shrugged before leaning in to Ronnie and taking his little hands in his own, "and she said you aren't allowed to scratch them no matter how itchy they get, alright?"

Ronnie looked back at Bill and blinked before pulling his hands away from him and burying his pink face into Charlie's shoulder without a sound. Bill stood upright and frowned at this odd behaviour from his youngest brother. He hadn't even said 'no' to him. Charlie was looking at Bill as if he'd gladly hit him again if he wasn't cradling a three year old with dragon pox at that moment.

"What's up with him?" Bill asked as he reached out to tickle Ronnie's cheek with his forefinger.

"Maybe he hasn't forgotten you threatening to smack him, you git!" Charlie spat back.

Bill let out a groan before rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

"Bloody Percy! Look I explained to him _and_ Ronnie that I was only messing with him. I was stressed because you'd gone and left me with them all."

"So it's _my_ fault you threatened to hit a three year old, is it?" Charlie said, looking bigger then usual.

"I didn't threaten him Char, shit, he's my baby brother; what do you think I am?"

"A git!" Charlie yelled.

Ronnie's face turned a little so his bloodshot eyes scowled at Bill, and he growled in his little angry fox cub way.

"Git!"

Bill smiled at Charlie and clapped his hands together patronisingly.

"So you've not only diseased him, but you've taught him how to swear as well. Well done Char, I couldn't have made matters any worse myself if I tried."

"Perce!" Charlie yelled, his eyes on fire with pent-up aggression.

Percy rushed into the kitchen looking wary.

"What?"

"Here," Charlie held Ronnie out to him, "take Ronnie next door to play with Ginny and the twins."

Ronnie was wriggling like a fish and still stark naked.

"No!" Ronnie protested.

"Do as you're told!" Charlie shouted at him and Ronnie froze before hanging passively in Percy's arms.

"Don't shout at him," Percy said before carrying Ronnie through to the living room.

"So you were about to tell me how out of line _I_ was for losing my temper and snapping at the baby, Char?" Bill said as he folded his arms smugly.

Charlie's head dropped a little in shame before he gave Bill a firm shove in the chest and walked away after Percy.

"You, don't even joke about hitting the babies or I'll knock you into next Sunday," Charlie snarled.

Bill followed them through and stood in the doorway, out of everybody's way but able to oversee everything that was going on, while wondering how he would explain Ginny and Ronnie not being asleep in their beds yet. Percy was bouncing Ronnie on his knee and trying to distract him from scratching at the blisters on his face and neck by telling him a story about trolls. Ginny was yawning and fidgeting as Fred and George Spellotaped a pair of socks over her hands so she couldn't scratch while she slept. Bill smiled at this, he had to admire the five-year-olds' ingenuity.

Charlie was sitting beside Percy and Ronnie tentatively, obviously feeling like shit for shouting at Ronnie just now, and Bill had to remind himself just how much his face hurt in order to stop himself feeling sorry for the fat-headed git.

"Hey Fred, George," Bill called out to the twins as they began to make Ginny's sock-clad hands into sock puppets to keep her from tearing them off, "When you're done with Gin, could you do Ron as well?"

"Gin and Ron! Gin and Ron! Gin and Ron!" the twins began to chant.

Bill rolled his eyes again and cursed his slip-up. His eyes met Charlie's and he was surprised to see his brother smiling with some degree of sympathy.

"Mum's gonna kill you for that," he said with a shake of his head.

Their mum had a thing about two syllable names ending with an 'ie' sound. Billy, Charlie, Percy, Freddy, Georgie, Ronnie and Ginny were what they would all go by for the rest of their lives if their mother had her way. But 'Billy' sounded too childish and he'd introduced himself around school as Bill and mum had been all hurt about it. Then Charlie had started embracing his name in all its two-syllable glory, which was probably why Bill would shorten it to Char just to annoy him, and became the golden boy for a time. Percy had wanted to be called Percival, but nobody would, and again it was shortened to Perce just to get on his wick. Then the twins came along and immediately demanded they were Fred and George and would answer to no other version of their names.

Ronnie and Ginny were the last two who were still referred to by their mother's chosen name.

"Ron and Gin! Ron and Gin! Ron and Gin!" the twins chanted even louder.

The first thing their mother would ask when she heard them calling their little brother and sister this was 'Where did you get that from?' and they would gladly point right at Bill and ruin the rest of his summer.

Ronnie was hugging Percy - Bill thought that both babies really needed to go to bed and hoped that the mediwitch would show up to see to them soon - while his little face was directed at Charlie. Charlie chanced an uneasy smile before pushing his big strong finger underneath Ronnie's hand and wriggling it.

"Sorry I shouted at you little man. I think the spots are making me grumpy," he winced apologetically.

Bill couldn't see Ronnie's face but he did see his little fingers curling around Charlie's finger as his tentative smile broke into a wide grin.

"Thanks mate," he said as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on the top of Ronnie's head.

Charlie frowned as he pulled back and then ran his fingers through Ronnie's hair.

"What is it?" Bill said, stepping into the room with concern.

"Poor little sod's got them under his hair as well," Charlie sighed while Ronnie put his had up to feel, "No don't scratch 'em, mate, you don't want scabs under your hair, it's horrible."

"They're under yours, too, Charlie," Bill said as he leaned over his brother's head, "loads of 'em."

"Oh crap!" Charlie grumbled while feeling his scalp with his fingertips.

"Crap!" Fred yelled with his arms aloft.

Bill looked to Charlie ruefully and shook his head.

"Can this night get any worse?"

Bill hated it when he jinxed things like that.

"Be a good boy now, Ronnie, and leave the spots alone until the mediwitch gets here," Percy was fussing as he grabbed Ronnie's wrists to prevent him feeling around for more blisters on parts of his body he couldn't see.

"No!" Ronnie snapped and tried to kick away from Percy with both feet.

"Ronnie, no kicking, that's very naughty!" Percy said, sounding almost exactly like their mother, Bill thought.

"I don't want medibitch poking me!" Ronnie protested.

Bill and Charlie glared at each other at the same moment before blurting out the same three sentences.

"That was _not_ me! It wasn't _you?_ Then who..." both of them looked to the twins where they rolled about on the floor laughing, "..._you!"_

"Ronnie, you must never say that again, do you hear?" Percy was saying to his squirming baby brother, sitting him up forcibly but as gently as he could, "That's a horrible thing to say about Madam Knight after all the nice things she's done for you."

"She gives me yucky potions, she's a medibitch!" Ronnie said as he rather unfortunately kneed Percy in the groin while struggling to wriggle free of him.

"Ouch!" Charlie cringed while crossing his own legs and looking away.

"Quick, Perce, give him here," Bill said with a great deal of sympathy while the twins laughed so hard that they were going quite an alarming shade of puce.

Percy was still holding on to Ronnie, quite valiantly, while his eyes watered and his face looked as if it was paralysed.

"No," Percy strained, "it's fine. I've got him."

"Get off!" Ronnie was clambering over Percy's shoulder now.

Bill moved to catch his little brother, but Percy regained his second wind, pulled Ronnie back onto his sore lap and looked him right in the eye.

"You are being a very naughty boy tonight," Percy said sternly, "and if I were mum I'd tell you that you couldn't have any chocolate for a week!"

"Calm down, Perce," Charlie said, as if Percy had threatened to disown Ronnie and sell him into slavery.

"Yeah," Bill said with a small chuckle, "I think you're taking the role of surrogate mother a bit too seriously now."

"He's not my snugglegut mummy!" Ronnie said with his grumpiest expression yet.

It was the absolute worst thing for any of them to do right then and there but their baby brother's face was just too priceless to fight against and Bill and Charlie were lost to the giggles.

"'S not funny!" Ronnie slithered down between Percy's legs and scampered towards the open door.

There was a bright green light glowing from the kitchen door and Ronnie turned and ran right back into the living room.

"The medibitch is here!"

Percy caught Ronnie and held onto him tightly while Ronnie hit out at him wildly and tried to wriggle free to find somewhere to hide from Madam Knight.

"Ronnie, don't be scared, I'll be here the whole time," Percy was saying by way of reassurance.

"Don't want snugglegut mummy, I want my real mummy!" Ronnie said, getting himself quite worked up now.

"Hey come on, ya little whippet," Charlie said, banishing his amusement for good on seeing how genuinely distressed Ronnie seemed to be at the prospect of a mediwitch looking him over with her wand.

"Hello?" the voice of Madam Knight called through from the kitchen.

Bill ran through to welcome her and explain that Ronnie was a little out of sorts.

"He's just tired and itchy," Bill smiled to the woman as he took her cloak and hung it on the banister while she walked ahead of him into the living room.

Charlie was presenting Ginny to her while Percy had his head underneath their mother's knitting chair, only his backside visible, as he tried to locate the hidden Ronnie.

"Well, from what I remember, his last encounter withme involved a portion of missing tongue and an acid pop," Madam Knight said with a shake of her head in the direction of the grinning twins, "To be fair to the little tyke, that was quite an unpleasant treatment he had to go through to fix him up like new again."

Charlie handed Ginny over to Madam Knight before scratching his head with his now free hand. Madam Knight slapped his hand and gave him a disapproving tut.

"Now come on Charles, what kind of example is that to set the little ones," she scolded, "You won't get a lollypop at the end if you don't behave."

Charlie's face lit up on hearing this.

"Ooh, we get lollies?"

Bill clasped his hand to his mouth and struggled not to laugh out loud.

"Has he come back out again?" Percy's voice sounded from beneath the chair, he pulled his head out to look around the living room with a frown, "I can't..." he looked back under again, "He's not back there anymore."

George gasped dramatically and pointed to the curtains as they blew in the gentle breeze.

"Window's open!"

Bill and Charlie looked at each other, the blood draining from both their faces, before running to the open window. They stood on either side of Percy.

"Oh shit!" Bill breathed as he peered out into the darkness and couldn't see his little brother anywhere.

"I'm sorry," Percy whimpered, "I'm sorry I forgot about the window. I didn't think he was big enough to get out that way."

"_Ronnie!"_ Charlie bellowed out into the darkness, "Ronnie, we get lollies this time. It's a nice medibit...mediwitch this time!"

"Oh shit!" Bill whimpered.

"Ronnie gone!" Ginny said cheerily from Madam Knight's arms.

"Oh shit!" Bill said, forgetting how to breathe now, "Mum's gonna kill me!"

"Boys!" Madam Knight called out in a calm but strong tone, "I'll watch the little ones, you three go and find him. He's probably hiding in your broom shed or something. Don't panic, William!"

Bill looked at the wise old woman and shook his head frantically.

"I'm not," he squeaked.

"C'mon," Charlie said as he grabbed Bill's arm and dragged him towards the front door, Percy hot on their heels.


	4. Lost

**Lost: One Naked, Spotty Three Year Old Boy With Red Hair...Answers To The Name Ronnie**

They had been searching for ten minutes now.

"You were supposed to be watching him, _William!"_

"With which of my black eyes was I supposed to be watching him with, _Char?"_

Bill, Charlie and Percy had split up and covered every inch of the back yard and the area surrounding the Burrow before meeting up again outside the broom shed they had searched first of all. Charlie was panting, he had run into the woods just to be sure that Ronnie hadn't got himself lost good and proper, but Bill felt pretty sure that Ronnie's fear of spiders would keep him out of there in the dark.

Thinking of his baby brother's arachnophobia suddenly hit Bill hard. The image he had in his head of little Ronnie, stark naked and sick, wandering around alone in the dark and scared out of his wits made him shake all over.

"I've lost him," he whimpered as he saw Percy approaching them and shaking his head sadly, "I've lost him."

Charlie and Percy exchanged anxious glances and Percy patted Bill on the back the way he'd obviously see his dad do when his mother was about to get hysterical about something.

"He's only a baby...and I lost him!" Bill said as he shook even harder now, his voice a strained yelp.

Charlie was looking very uncomfortable at this scene. Bill hadn't cried in front of anyone since he was a little boy. Charlie was never that comfortable with crying in general, he could handle it from the babies but never an older brother, and he tentatively put his hand upon Bill's shoulder.

"He's not lost, okay, Billy-Boy?" Charlie forced a smile onto his face, "He's probably hiding. We just need to find out where he's found to hide that's never been used by the twins before and then we'll all be back in the house and everything'll be alright."

"I lost one of the babies," Bill said, as if Charlie hadn't spoken a single word.

"Look!" Charlie said impatiently as he gripped both Bill's shoulders now and shook him hard, "We _will_ find him. We _will_ get him home and seen to my Madam Knight. We _will _put him to bed by the time mum and dad get home and you will _not_ get into any trouble for this, alright?"

Bill looked into Charlie's eyes with disgusted disbelief.

"I don't care about getting into trouble," he said hoarsely, "I don't care if Mum gives me a good hiding or disowns me for life, I don't care about any of that shit, Charlie. I want my little brother back!"

Bill's voice cracked and broke altogether on his last word and his head dropped. Charlie stiffened before hugging his brother and rubbing his back. Bill felt Percy curling his arms around both of them, his head at their waists, and Bill lost it completely and broke down.

"I didn't even want to baby-sit tonight," he sniffed, "I knew I couldn't handle it, but she wouldn't listen. There were too many of you!"

"I'll tell her, alright," Charlie said as his rigid discomfort in their hug dissolved and he hugged Bill properly, "I'll tell her I left you alone and knocked you out when I came back and things got out of control and it was all my fault. I'll tell her to blame me."

Bill shoved Charlie away from him, forgetting Percy's presence altogether and accidentally knocking him onto his backside, and stomped away into the darkness.

"I don't want someone to take the blame for me. I want somebody to bring Ronnie back to me safe and sound." Bill clamped his hands to either side of his mouth and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Ronnie! Ronnie! The medibitch has gone home and Mummy's on her way, please come home. Ronnie, I'm sorry!"

Charlie and Percy were following him, Charlie reaching him first and grabbing his arm to pull him back towards the house.

"Bill, stop it, you're upsetting Percy."

Bill turned around briefly to see Percy's worried and frightened face, and dropped to his knees in front of him.

"Perce, I need you to think really hard for me, okay?" Bill said desperately, Percy nodded, "Is there anywhere, anywhere at all, that you think Ronnie could be hiding?"

Percy shook his head and looked at Bill as if fearful that he was about to get yelled at.

"I looked everywhere I thought of, I promise."

"'S alright Perce, you did really well, don't worry about it," Charlie said as he put his arm around Percy's shoulders reassuringly.

Bill ran his hand through his hair and made another whimpering sound.

"Oh Godric Charlie, he's only three and he's not well and the last I saw of him he was still bloody naked!"

"Boys?" the voice of Madam Knight called for them from the back door of the Burrow, "Boys, come back inside."

Bill seemed to fall over his own feet and stumbled over his words at the same time.

"Didhegobackhome?" he sputtered as he ran like a madman back towards the house.

He was panting heavily and suffering from a painful stitch in his side when he reached the kitchen to see Madam Knight rocking a sleeping Ginny in her arms, the little girl covered in glowing white patches of lotion where every blister was now rapidly receding.

"Is he here? Did he come back?" Bill said, wincing while bending over and supporting himself by propping his hands against his knees, "Ronnie?"

The twins came to the kitchen door, George holding a cushion to himself and Fred chewing at his stubby fingernails, but no Ronnie.

"He's still not here, but I wanted to get Charles treated properly, and running around in the dark wasn't doing much good, was it?" Madam Knight said sadly.

"Sod my bloody pox, I'm not going to sit around here and get healed while my baby brother's out there all on his own!" Charlie snapped.

"You will do as you are told, young man, and you will do it now!" Madam Knight said abruptly, "As of this moment I am the only adult in this house and I am responsible for the lot of you until your mother comes home."

"We can't wait until Mum comes home before we go looking for him," Charlie said incredulously.

Bill shook his head.

"I'm going into town to see if a Muggle found him and took him in," he turned and headed back out the door.

Madam Knight pushed Ginny into Charlie's arms and followed the oldest Weasley boy outside.

"Surely he couldn't have got that far, William," she said as she tugged him around to face her by his elbow.

"Well if he didn't get that far, where is he?" Bill said, his face crumpling.

Madam Knight pulled him into her arms and he cried into her shoulder like a big baby. She rocked him and shushed him and rubbed circles on his back until he calmed down a little and pulled away, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"But he gets frightened easily," Bill sniffed.

"Look, I know you want to keep searching and I know that I'm not your mother so I can't stop you but please, I need you as the oldest to set an example for the others and tell them to stay here with me while you look. Charles really does need to be treated before I allow him to run around out there again."

Bill wiped his eyes again and nodded.

"I'm coming with you," the voice of Percy, who was just wandering up the garden path, called out.

"No, Perce," Bill began with a shake of the head.

"I've been looking after Ronnie all night and it's my fault he got out the window. I should have been watching him. I knew he was scared of Madam Knight and I let him get away from me." Percy's face was set with determination.

"Percy this wasn't your fault," Madam Knight said soothingly.

"I want to look for him with Bill," Percy said adamantly.

"Percy, you've been my saviour all night, you really have but..."

"I'm coming with you. Ronnie's mine to look after, you said, I'm his surrogate."

Madam Knight looked to Bill with an arched eyebrow and Bill sighed and clapped a hand around Percy's shoulders, almost knocking him off his feet.

"Alright, Perce. Let's try and tell the others to stay put here with Madam Knight while we're gone."

* * *

The please man was looking at them very suspiciously.

Percy had suggested they go to the please station to ask them if they could help them find Ronnie.

"It's where Muggles go for help with anything, I asked dad."

"Um," Bill said, reminding himself to say please to the please man, "_please_ can you tell me if anybody has found my little brother. He's lost and we don't know what to do. We've looked everywhere. _Please_."

The man sat forward and leaned over his desk. He had a pair of glasses similar to Percy', black and horn-rimmed with very thick lenses, and what appeared to be a permanent frown on his face.

"Where are your parents then, lads?"

"They're out for the night, I'm babysitting," Bill said, shuffling his feet and lowering his head.

"And you've lost one, have you? Good job!" the please man said as he tried to raise one eyebrow, an impossible feat considering the man didn't have two separate eyebrows but one huge thick one crossing his entire face.

"I know sir," Bill mumbled, "but there are six of them and three of them are ill and..."

"Six?" the man exclaimed before glancing at Percy, his fingers curling over the desk top and his eyes peering up at the please man, "I take it this is one of them?"

"Yes sir," Bill nodded eager to get on with the big search.

"So where are the others?"

"They're at home, sir."

"You left them alone?" the man exclaimed.

"Oh no sir, the me...a lady came to look after the sick ones, the babies and my brother Charlie, they've got dra... they're covered in spots, sir."

"You mean they've got the measles or Chicken pox or something like that?"

"Chicken pox!" Bill declared excitedly, "They've got Chicken pox."

"And you left them with your family doctor, is that right?" the please man was making notes on a piece of paper now.

"Yes sir, the doctor woman is looking after everybody while me and Percy, that's my brother here, look for Ronnie. Ronnie's the one who's missing, sir."

"Ronnie," the man wrote Ronnie's name on his pad, "last name?"

"Weasley."

Bill was getting very impatient. Couldn't they do this while roaming the streets with an army of please men calling out Ronnie's name and setting chocolate traps to entice him out into the open?

"And how old is he?"

"He's..." Bill felt himself getting choked up again and took a deep breath before speaking in a firm confident tone, "He's three years old, sir."

The please man glanced up at Bill and seemed to be taking this problem a lot more seriously now.

"Oh right, can you give me a description of him or a photograph to show my officers?"

Bill cursed under his breath, he hadn't thought about bringing a photograph. Then he realised that he wouldn't have been able to use one if he had; Muggles weren't supposed to see the moving photographs that wizarding families took.

"Sorry sir, no photographs."

"That's okay son, now how tall is he?"

"This big!" Percy suddenly piped up as he put his hand to his hipbone.

The please man leaned over the desk to see Percy's gesture and then sat back to make another note on his piece of paper.

"So what does he look like?"

"Well," Bill thought as he conjured up his image of Ronnie in his mind and felt a little pang of guilt at losing him again, "he's got red hair like ours," he paused to let the please man write that down, "he's got freckles, blue eyes..."

"He's got pox," Percy chipped in helpfully.

"Oh my word, he's one of the sick ones too?" the please man said with a huff at the luck of this poor kid.

"That's was why he ran away," Bill said as he began to bounce from foot to foot, "we told him the me...doctor was on her way and he's scared of her. He doesn't like doctors y'see?"

"Who does?" the man said with a shake of the head, "So what was he wearing when you last saw him?"

Bill swallowed.

"He wasn't wearing anything, he'd just been bathed and then we found the pox and called the doctor and then..." Bill flung his arms up into the air helplessly and found himself getting into a panic again.

"It's alright there son, with a description like that I'm positive he'll be hard to miss!" the please man said as he got up from his chair.

Bill took a bracing breath in and smiled down at Percy. Finally they were going to get out there and search for little Ronnie. The please man put his piece of paper through a machine and pressed some buttons. The machine sucked the paper in and spat it back out at the other end. The man then picked up, Bill knew by its description only, a fellytone and pressed more buttons. He read everything out from his description of Ronnie and then said goodbye before clapping his hands together and sitting back down.

"Would either of you like some tea?" he asked pleasantly.

"What?" Bill snapped with outrage.

"Tea? I think we might have some fizzy drinks somewhere, I could steal something from the staff room for you I'm sure."

"What about my brother?" Bill exclaimed.

The please man nodded at Percy.

"Him too, would you like a drink sonny?"

"My name's Percy sir," Percy said without a hint of sarcasm at all.

"Forget drinks," Bill snapped, "aren't we going out with dogs and those flashing cars and loads of people to look for him?"

The please man seemed to think something was funny, which only infuriated Bill all the more.

"I've put our best men onto it don't you worry. We'll get him back to you soon enough. I am going to need an address for you and I'm afraid you won't be able to get away with not telling your parents you lost one of their brood. When he is found we won't be able to just let him go with you because you say he's your brother."

"But he _is_ our brother!" Bill declared, wondering what on earth this please man was talking about.

"Come now," the please man said, "I'm sure your mother warned you about going off with strangers. There are some bad people out there and little ones have to be careful these days don't they? Well, so do we. How would you feel if you came to us and we told you we just gave your Ronnie away to the first person to come and claim him?"

Bill's eyes widened and Percy shuddered and gripped his arm tightly.

"Does he mean dark wizards might try to take Ronnie?" Percy whispered fearfully.

Bill guided Percy over to a row of plastic chairs and sat him down.

"Don't be silly Perce, he's a Muggle and Muggles don't know about dark wizards, do they?" Bill smiled while feeling sick inside.

"But he says there are bad people who take little ones away who don't belong to them, bad Muggles," Percy was shaking a little, "What if a bad Muggle finds him before the please men?"

Bill sat down beside Percy and watched as the please man moved away from his desk to talk to a lady in a similar uniform to his own.

"It's just a precaution," Bill said, trying to convince himself as much as he was Percy, "you know big words, you know what a precaution is, don't you, Perce?"

Bill watched as Percy nodded and then lowered his head and wiped his eyes.

"But the please man thinks somebody bad's got Ronnie," Percy sniffed as his shoulders fell, "Somebody's going to hurt him."

"No," Bill said confidently as he hugged Percy to him, "Nobody's going to hurt Ronnie, _nobody!"_

"Well I told you we'd track him down quick enough, didn't I?" the please man said with a grin merging with his constant frown.

Bill jumped up from his seat and rushed back over to the desk, looking over the man's shoulder for Ronnie.

"You found him? Where is he? Is he alright? Is he here?"

"Nobody hurt him, did they?" Percy said as he peered around Bill to the please man.

"Nobody hurt him at all, son...Percy," the please man corrected himself with a smile.

Bill felt himself hit with so much relief that he felt dizzy.

"Oh thank you," he whispered to the grubby ceiling above his head.

"An elderly couple taking their dog for a walk came across him running down the lane that leads out to that overgrown field on the edge of town. They took him to the children's home on St. Martin's Lane, I'll get a car to take you down there and you can give them your contact details so they can get your parents to come and pick the three of you up."

"So you'll let us see him, you believe us...that we're really his brothers?" Bill said nervously.

The please man looked at Bill over the top of his glasses and cleared his throat.

"_Despite_ the two black eyes," he said sternly before breaking into a warm smile, "I can see you're a good lad. They'll let you both stay with him until your parents come."

Bill remembered his panda face and tutted before smiling at the please man.

"Babysitting younger brothers, it's bound to happen sooner or later," he said as he pointed at his bruised eyes.

* * *

The door to the children's home opened and a weary-looking thin woman with bags under her eyes smiled at them.

"Well, there's no need to ask who you're here to see," she said as she pointed at Bill and Percy's hair, "Come on in, boys. The poor little fella got himself into a right state."

"Excuse me?" Bill said as his heart skipped a beat.

"Oh don't worry dear," she said as she patted Bill's arm and led them down the narrow hallway, "I just mean he's found himself in a strange place surrounded by strange people and he got a bit tearful, that's all."

"Oh, right," Bill said with a relieved nod.

"I called the GP to come and have a look at his chicken pox, he should be here soon."

"Okay," Bill nodded, not wanting to worry about how to explain a magical disease to a muggle gee pea, before wondering exactly what a gee pea was.

The woman paused for a moment and looked a little more awake as she widened her eyes to look right at Bill and Percy.

"Can I ask by the way, how many of you are there because all I'm getting from him is names names names?"

Bill grinned and pointed at himself and then Percy, "I'm Bill, I'm the oldest, and this is..."

"Charlie," the woman said with a grin.

"Uh, no," Percy said.

"Fred?" the woman guessed, again Percy shook his head, "George?"

"You've got a pretty good memory to know all the names like that," Bill said, "sometimes I still forget!"

The woman laughed at this and slapped Bill's arm playfully.

"So Ronnie's been asking for everyone then?" Percy said, Bill noticed something strange in his tone but couldn't quite place what it was.

"First he wants his mummy and daddy and then he's telling us that Bill's in charge but Charlie hit him," she pointed at Bill's black eyes, "that looks like it hurt, the twins pushed him in compost but he's not allowed to tell anyone," Bill chuckled at this, "then him, Charlie and baby Ginny got poxy. Well, I nearly died when he said that! That is just the most adorable thing I've ever heard."

Bill saw Percy's face fall and realised that he had been waiting to hear his own name listed. He reached out for Percy but the seven-year-old had stopped walking after them and spoke up in a hollow voice.

"He's not been asking for anybody else?"

The tired-looking woman blinked before looking into space for a moment and then blowing air out through her hollow cheeks.

"Oh well there's his..." the woman looked very confused as she spoke, "...does he have a puppy or a pet or something?"

"No," Bill said with a frown as he shook his head.

"Well maybe it's what he calls his teddy bear, little ones make up the cutest names for things, don't they?"

"He wouldn't be asking for his teddy bear, believe me, " Bill said as he remembered the weeks of nightmares that woke the whole household after the twins had revealed their magical gift by turning his teddy bear into a spider, "something nasty happened to it and he wouldn't touch it again."

Bill saw that Percy was walking very slowly after them again, obviously hurt that Ronnie hadn't been asking for him at all, and reminded himself to have a word with him later to explain about temperamental toddlers and their mood swings.

"Well all I know is that this little kid screamed the place down for his snugglegut," the woman said as she shrugged her shoulders and continued onwards down the hallway.

Percy and Bill both froze on the spot and looked at each other with wide eyes. Percy looked as if all the blood had just been drained from his body.

"'I want my snugglegut! Where's my snugglegut?' Poor little thing got very worked up," the woman looked over her shoulder and saw that the two boys had stopped walking and frowned at them.

"He's..." Percy began, his voice sounding so tiny but hopeful, "He was asking for his snugglegut?"

Bill smiled at Percy as the younger boy realised why it was his name hadn't been listed along with the others.

"Crying his little heart out for it, lord knows what it is!" she said with a smile before noticing Percy's eyes welling up, "Are you alright, dear?"

Percy nodded and swallowed.

"I'm snugglegut!" he declared.

"Oh!" the woman said before smiling widely, "Oh isn't that sweet? You must be his favourite then?"

Percy stared at Bill in disbelief.

"No I just...look after him," he said meekly.

"Well you must be doing a very good job because he's been asking for snugglegut more then anybody else," the woman said with a knowing smile.

Percy drew a shuddering breath in as he fought to pull himself together.

"Where is he?" he demanded.

The woman stepped aside and revealed a closed door.

"He's in there."

Percy strode forward and opened the door without even pausing to knock. Bill followed him through and saw a brightly decorated room, it looked like a playroom with rainbows and bunny rabbits painted all over the walls, with beanbags and mobiles and toys strewn all over the floor. On one of the largest beanbags, curled up like a spotty ginger tomcat, was Ronnie. He had a tear-streaked face and his puffy red eyes were closed. A big brown blanket was wrapped around him tightly.

"Little sweetheart cried himself to sleep," the woman said quietly.

Percy crept into the room and sank to his knees. He wiped Ronnie's snotty nose with his own sleeve before sliding his arms beneath his little body and scooping him up. Bill felt proud of him for some reason and shared a grin with the woman before she made her excuses and told him to stay in the nursery with his brothers and she'd be back soon to get a number for their parents.

Percy wandered over to an empty rocking chair and sat in it, still cradling Ronnie in his arms. Bill closed the door behind him and slid down the wall with a deep sigh. They'd found him, safe and sound and well looked after, and Bill tried to remember how to go about life again without being absolutely terrified. This had been a long night and the worst was yet to come, his mother finding out about everything that had happened and killing him where he stood.

Bill smiled; he didn't care, because the worst wasn't to come at all. He'd seen what the worst could have been and he'd escaped it. Everything from this point on meant nothing.

He'd got the baby back.

Percy rocked Ronnie back and fourth in the chair and looked over to Bill with a smile.

"You are the best snugglegut mother anyone could ever want, Perce," Bill said as he supported his head in his hands.

Percy chortled, the movement of which made Ronnie open his eyes just a little. He saw Percy smiling down at him and his little hand grabbed hold of Percy's jumper before he burrowed his face into it and drifted back off to sleep.

"I'll always look after you, Ronnie," Percy whispered as he resumed rocking back and forth.


	5. Breakout

**Breakout**

Bill had made an excuse to go wandering about the children's home, telling the weary-looking woman that he was going to the loo, and tried to find some back door or open window that he could get himself, Percy and the baby out of safely. He was going to have to explain why they didn't have a felly tone number or an address soon and then things would look suspicious.

He had heard about how Muggles dealt with neglectful parents from one of his dormitory mates at Hogwarts who had lived in a care-home before Dumbledore came to visit and told him that he was a wizard.

Bill shuddered at the thought of Ronnie and Percy being taken away and put 'into care' because they had been neglected. What if they got split up? What if they got split up and tried to run away, Ronnie had done it once already, and they weren't able to find them?

Bill took a deep breath in and let it out as he leaned against a wall and rubbed his face roughly. He was overreacting, he knew that, and it was only because of how scared he had been earlier on. Hearing a Muggle please man telling him that Muggles took other people's children away had made his stomach tighten. He was thankful for the nice old couple that had looked after his little brother and made sure he was taken somewhere safe. He reminded himself to go into town the following day and try to find out who they were from the please man so he could thank them.

He snorted with laughter. As if he was going to be able to walk tomorrow. His mum was going to do her nut when she found out.

"He's a sweet little boy, your brother," a voice said from an open doorway.

Bill jumped and looked up to see a dark-skinned girl with long straight black hair leaning out of a darkened room in her dressing-gown and slippers.

"Oh, hi," Bill said as he tried not to look anywhere below the girl's chin, "what was that?"

She giggled and stepped out of the room quietly, closing the door behind her softly, and nodded back down the hallway to the playroom.

"The little nude boy, he's your brother isn't he?"

Bill sniggered and nodded.

"Oh right, yeah, that's little Ronnie."

"I was with Sheila when he was brought in," she said as she stepped a little closer to Bill, who fixed his eyes on hers with even more determination not to look anywhere he shouldn't be, "he was crying until he saw me and then he just stared for ages."

Bill blinked and nodded. He didn't know what he was nodding about, but he couldn't concentrate on maintaining eye contact and speaking at the same time. The girl chuckled and looked back down the hall.

"We found out what fascinated him about me in the end though," she grinned before directing her large brown eyes back onto Bill's face, "he thought I was made of chocolate!"

Bill's face fell and he suddenly cursed Ronnie and his naïveté inside his own head.

"I'm so sorry!" he said.

"What for? I thought it was really sweet," she beamed, "he's never seen someone like me before, then?"

"He stays home a lot," Bill tried to explain, "he's only little, so my mum worries about infections and stuff."

"What, like the one he's got now?" the girl said with an arched eyebrow.

Bill laughed and shrugged.

"Well, yeah."

The girl extended her hand to him and before he could stop himself he was looking down at it, dumfounded with shock.

"I'm Hina," she said as she waited for Bill to take her hand and introduce himself.

When Bill remained frozen she moved her hand forward and took his to shake it.

"Sorry," Bill said as he tightened his grip and moved his own arm, "I'm Bill."

"I can tell," she said with a smile.

"Huh?" Bill frowned, still shaking Hina's hand.

"You have a panda face, your brother said that you got punched in the nose and got a panda face!"

"Oh," Bill said, cringing that this pretty girl now knew that his younger brother had knocked him out cold that night, "yeah, that was me."

"So," Hina said, glancing down at their hands, still clasped but no longer shaking, "have we finished now?"

"Oh, sorry!" Bill said as he snatched his hand back and felt himself blushing as Hina giggled.

"That's okay, I enjoyed it, you don't get a chance to have a good long handshake these days, do you?"

Bill couldn't look at her at all now. He was making a total prat of himself.

"So how old are you, then?" Hina said, taking up the conversation seeing as Bill was in 'rabbit in headlights' mode.

"Thirteen," he managed to spit out.

"Oh I thought you were the same age as me, I'm eleven," Hina said, "You don't look thirteen."

"So everybody tells me," Bill mumbled as he remembered all his classmates marvelling at Charlie and his mature stature when he started at Hogwarts the September before.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way," Hina said, her eyes widening as she worried that she'd offended him somehow.

"No, I know, I just wish I was a bit bigger, that's all. At least big enough to thump Charlie back!"

Hina laughed at this, and Bill forced himself to meet her eyes once again. He smiled back at her awkwardly.

"I've never seen you at school, I'd remember _you_," she said with what seemed like awe, which threw Bill totally, "do you go to Bardsley Comp?"

"Uh, no I go away to school," Bill said while fiddling with his hands.

"Oh," Hina nodded, "is it cool or do you hate it?"

"It's great," Bill nodded enthusiastically, "nobody asks me to baby-sit there!"

Hina chuckled at this and Bill felt unnaturally pleased with himself.

"So you're looking for a way to sneak out, aren't you?" Hina said, knowingly.

Bill's face formed a defensive mask.

"No."

"Liar," Hina mumbled.

"I'm not, I'm just stretching my legs!"

"So you're not worried about what your mum and dad'll do to you when they find out how much you messed up tonight?" Hina said with a smug look on her face.

"No," Bill said again, completely unconvincingly.

Hina shrugged and reached out for her door handle behind her.

"Oh well I'll just tell that boy Charlie that you'd prefer to wait, then."

Bill grabbed Hina's arm and held her back just as she turned the door handle and the door clicked open.

"What?"

Hina's face broke into a wide grin and she put her finger to her lips before pushing the door wide and pointing to her open window. Bill clamped his hand to his mouth as he saw a beaming Charlie waving at him before putting his finger to his own lips and pointing at the sleeping figure of another girl sleeping in the bed beside Hina's vacant one. Charlie's face was glowing in patches where the ointment was reducing his blisters and he held up a thick jumper of his and big woollen socks, obviously brought for little Ronnie.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Hina whispered, "Go and get your brothers!"

* * *

As the three of them crouched beside the open window and dressed the sleepy Ronnie in the jumper, which went right down to his feet, and shoved the socks on him, Hina was keeping watch at her open bedroom door.

"Wan-g'home," Ron muttered sleepily as Percy scooped him up in his arms and held him tightly.

"Shhh, it's alright, Ronnie, we're taking you home now," Percy said softly, "be a good boy and go back to sleep."

"Give him here, Perce," Charlie said as he reached through the window to take Ronnie from his younger brother.

"No, I've got him," Percy said protectively as he clung on to his baby brother as if afraid of losing him again.

Charlie rolled his eyes and huffed.

"You can't climb out while holding on to him like that, you'll fall or drop him or something."

"I _won't_ drop him," Percy said with outrage.

"Just pass him through to me and then climb out and I'll give him right back, okay, mother hen?" Charlie said with annoyance.

Percy stiffened and cradled Ronnie even more protectively then before.

"He wants me, I'm not letting him go."

Charlie huffed and looked past Percy to Bill, who understood where Percy was coming from, but hated his timing all the same. Suddenly the door closed, and so did the light that was illuminating the room from the hallway.

"Sheila's heading towards the playroom, she's going to see you've gone," Hina hissed across her darkened bedroom, "Quick!"

Bill felt Hina's body brush past him as she flung herself into her bed, ready to feign sleep if the door opened, and he looked back to Charlie desperately. Charlie gritted his teeth with determination and grabbed hold of Percy firmly. Percy clung on to Ronnie and squeaked as Charlie lifted him off his feet and out through the window. Just as he heard Sheila's voice raising the alarm, Charlie set Percy down on the ground and extended his hand to pull Bill out.

He put his foot on the window ledge and whispered over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Hina, g'night!"

He reached out for Charlie and felt his strong fingers curling around his arm and yanking him outside. As Bill landed heavily and steadied himself against Charlie's chest Percy set off with the sleeping Ronnie rubbing at his face with the overlong sleeves that flapped loosely beneath his little hands.

"Leg it!" Charlie ordered before tearing off into the darkness with long powerful strides.

Bill set off after his brothers and hoped that they'd got away with their prison-break.


	6. Bedtime Stories

**Bedtime Stories**

Charlie held the door open for Bill and Percy to walk through before stepping inside and locking it behind him. Madam Knight was rushing down the hallway towards Percy, still clutching Ronnie in his arms as if afraid that somebody was going to jump out at them and try to take Ronnie away from him.

All that talk of 'bad Muggles' at the please station had really scared him, Bill thought.

"Oh thank goodness!" Madam Knight breathed a sigh of relief and tried to manoeuvre her arms beneath Ronnie's sleeping body to take him for healing, but Percy clung on and looked about ready to cry.

The woman pulled back and seemed to realise that he was having some older-brother anxiety issues. She smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's alright, Percy, you can help me with him if you want to. Would you like that?" she asked tentatively.

Percy nodded before letting himself be led down the hallway to the kitchen where he laid Ronnie out on the dining table.

"Nobody hurt him," Percy said abruptly, "Nice people found him and they looked after him and nobody hurt him."

Madam Knight cupped Percy's cheek in her hand and looked into his blank face sadly.

"Of course nobody hurt him. Who would want to?"

Bill and Charlie shared a glance and Charlie seemed to want to know why Percy had such a thing about people hurting Ronnie when all he'd done was run away and get taken somewhere safe. He, Charlie, had apparently been seen wandering around the streets of Ottery St. Catchpole looking for Ronnie and a please car pulled up and knew immediately what he must have been doing. He had the Weasley hair, the Weasley freckles and he was covered in healing dragon pox just like the missing three year old.

The please men told him to head home and that his brothers had been reunited at the children's home. Bill found himself slapping Charlie on the back, as he felt thankful that the obstinate git had ignored the instructions and gone off on his rescue mission.

Charlie mumbled something about checking Ginny and the twins and headed upstairs where they were, or in the twins' case should have been, in bed. Madam Knight pulled the large jumper off the limp little body of his baby brother. All that adventure had really worn him out and he was too sleepy to even be scared of the 'medibitch' now.

"Oh dear me," the woman frowned, "I see some of the blisters have burst, here."

She pointed to Ronnie's chest and stomach.

"Is that really bad?" Percy asked as his whole body stiffened.

"Not at all dear," the witch smiled reassuringly, "but he will get scabs, and if he picks at those, then he'll scar," she looked down at the sleeping three-year-old, naked but for two enormous socks all the way up both legs, and stroked his hair, "and we don't want to ruin such beautiful skin with a lot of ugly scars, do we?"

"No, Madam Knight," both Bill and Percy shook their heads.

Bill tried to play that scene in his head. His mother would come home and be greeted by a beaming Bill and ravaged Ronnie. _'Hello mum, how was the function? I've scarred Ronnie for life for you. I'm off to bed now, g'night'. _

"Well, it looks as if he was well looked after," the mediwitch said as she began a full examination of Ronnie.

"Yeah," Bill nodded, "they were really great with him."

Percy was still looking anxious and Madam Knight caught his eye and smiled before picking up a mortise and pestle full of glowing white gunk. She removed the pestle and handed the treatment to Percy.

"I've done this twice already," she said warmly, "would you like to apply it to your brother's blisters?"

Percy nodded eagerly and took the ointment from her. She watched him for a short while before walking around the kitchen table and towards Bill. He straightened up as he prepared for a bollocking from the responsible old witch, but she broke into a grin and guided him through to the living room.

"Let me fix those eyes of yours."

"Oh right," Bill said as he suddenly remembered his own state, "thanks."

They sat down on the sofa and the mediwitch withdrew her wand from her robes and flicked it at Bill's face twice. He felt a cool sensation before the skin around his eyes felt as if it was going to swell up and engulf his entire head and then returning to normal. Bill put his hand to his face and felt that the tenderness was gone and so was the swelling.

"Than-"

"No William," Madam Knight interrupted sternly, "I expect to hear from your mother in the morning, and if I do not, then I will be back here to tell her everything I saw. Do you understand what I'm saying young man?"

Bill nodded glumly. Their daring escape had been for nothing. They were going to be found out anyway. Not they, _him_.

"I'll tell her everything, I promise."

"You will also tell her to Floo me first thing in the morning so I can back up your testimony and reassure her that you did a fine job under very difficult circumstances."

Bill blinked and looked up at the wise old witch in shock.

"What?" he gasped.

The mediwitch's smile grew wider still now.

"Six youngsters to look after, three with dragon pox erupting while you were alone with them, a panic attack from one of the little ones that could have gone horribly wrong but you took charge and behaved admirably and dealt with Muggles without drawing any suspicion to yourself," Madam Knight took Bill's hand in hers and patted the back of it, "Molly will be incredibly proud of you, my boy."

Bill swallowed and felt like hugging the woman.

"She shouldn't be, I messed up good and proper," he muttered down into his lap.

Madam Knight gave him a slight slap on the side of the face and rose from the sofa.

"Now we'll have non of that. Let's go and see how Percy's doing with our little wanderer, shall we?"

_

* * *

_

"How _could_ you have let this escalate and not send word to me, William Arthur Weasley?" his mother raged as soon as Bill had completed his re-telling of the night's events in full.

"Now, now, Molly," his father placed a hand on her shoulder to hold her back from either clipping Bill around the back of the head or barging past him to see what state he had got her family into while she was away, "Bill can't be held responsible for the babies and Charlie getting dragon pox, can he?"

"No but he should have told me," she snapped as she attempted to shake off her husband's hand, "You should have Flooed and got me to come home and see to them

"I didn't want to ruin your night, Mum," Bill cringed with apology.

"Ruin my night?" she repeated in a tone of outrage, "Do you really think I would care about a silly Ministry function over _three_ of my children being sick at home with only a thirteen-year-old to care for them?"

Again, Bill's father was holding on to her and talking in his most soothing voice.

"A thirteen-year-old you left to care for them, Molly, remember that."

"And what's that supposed to mean, Arthur Weasley?" she rounded on Bill's father with a livid look in her eyes.

"It means that you trusted Bill with everybody for a reason, and you were right to do so, weren't you? He's proved that tonight."

"He...should...have...sent for me!" she said as she shook with the suppressed emotions brewing within her.

"He sent for Madam Knight," Bill's dad said firmly, gripping both her shoulders tightly. "The second he saw that his brothers and sister were sick, he sent for a mediwitch. Would you rather he wasted time sending owls and making Floo calls to the Ministry trying to find you?"

"Well no, I admit he did the right thing in getting the family healer to them right away, but then afterwards...with Ronnie," Bill felt slightly sick as he saw his mother's face crumpling and her face burying itself into her husband's robes, "My baby boy, Arthur, out there all alone without a stitch on him and ill."

"And they went out and got him right back, didn't they?" Bill's father said, casting a grateful smile Bill's way. "Bill wasted no time and went out there and went to the Muggles for help. That was a very brave and responsible thing to do, Molly."

Bill's mother sniffed and wiped her face.

"Wasn't it, Molly?" his father repeated.

"Yes, yes it was, Billy. You did the right thing and I am proud of you for keeping a cool head, but why? Why, after that, didn't you contact me?" she implored him for some explanation other then 'I didn't want to get into trouble.'

"I just...I didn't want...I th...thought-"

"You didn't think, did you?" she snapped before drawing in a breath and correcting herself, "Oh Bill, I'm sorry but, not matter how bad things are, you should always tell me when things go as wrong as they did tonight. When I think of what awful things could have happened..."

"But they didn't happen, Mum," Charlie's voice said, strongly and firmly from behind Bill, causing him to jump with fright, "and Bill wouldn't let me go searching until I was healed. What did he do wrong there? He didn't go alone; he went with Percy, who has his head screwed on right. What did he do wrong there? He didn't draw attention to himself in the Muggle streets, he did things properly and found Ronnie faster then we would have if we'd all gone running around like headless chickens looking for him. What did he do wrong then?"

"Charlie, it's very decent of you to stand up for you brother but the fact is..." their mother took a step forward and puffed out her chest in full-on mother hen mode.

"The fact is that you've got three sick kids on the mend, thanks to Bill," Charlie said, puffing out his own chest now, "You've got clean kids in their beds, which wasn't how you left them, thanks to Bill."

Their mother flushed a little at the accusatory tone in Charlie's voice, but he was already speaking once more as she opened her mouth to scold him for his cheek.

"You had a responsible adult supervising the house and the kids while Bill went with Perce for Ronnie. All your kids are in bed, sound asleep and safe and getting well, and for some reason this makes you _disappointed_ in him?" Charlie frowned.

"No," she said as her shoulders fell and her chest deflated, and she hugged Bill to her closely, "of course I'm not disappointed that it all turned out for the best."

Charlie put his hand on Bill's shoulder and lifted his chin defiantly.

"If you're going to give Bill a bollocking and punish him, then you can do the same to me too."

Bill couldn't believe what he was hearing and gaped at his brother before noticing that his mother was doing the same. Their dad put his arm around her and gripped her tightly as he guided her out of the kitchen and towards the stairs while she was still dumfounded.

"Let's go and say goodnight to everybody and clear this up with Madam Knight in the morning."

As their parents climbed the stairs, Bill and Charlie heaved a sigh and followed them up, Bill shoving Charlie in the back gently and grinning when he turned around to frown at him.

"Git," Bill smirked.

"Shut it, pretty boy!" Charlie sniggered back.

The two of them stood on the landing as they watched their mother go into every room and plant a kiss on every one of her children's foreheads. Ginny's blisters were completely gone now and she was pouting in her sleep. The twins were sleeping like mirror images, Fred's left leg and arm hanging off the side of his bed and George's right leg and arm swinging limply off his.

As their mother pushed the door to Percy's bedroom open, Bill saw that his bed was empty and still pristinely made.

"Where's Percy?" his mother said in a panic, "did you forget to bring Percy back with you?" she turned on Bill and went a shade of red that Bill had only seen in poppies, "You lost Percy too!"

"Um," Bill frowned before looking up the second set of stairs towards Ronnie's room, "I think I might know where he is."

As the four of them crept up the creaky stairs and peered through the open door to Ronnie's bedroom they saw their missing Weasley.

Percy was sleeping in Ronnie's little bed. The scabby, blistered little body in his arms was scratching under his hair in his sleep and his blotchy face was burrowed into his older brother's shoulder. Bill could just about make out Ronnie's little fingers moving out of his hair and curling around Percy's thumb as he stopped scratching and fell back into his peaceful slumber.

"Oh Arthur," he heard his mother saying, as sounded as if she was going to cry, "look at that."

Bill closed the door as quietly as he could before clearing his throat.

"Yeah, you might find that Percy wants to take charge of looking after the babies for a while," he explained.

"Well that'll be nice for you, won't it, Molly?" his dad said as he smiled at her and guided her back down the stairs.

"Oh, and Mum," Bill called after his departing parents, "you're going to need to knit Percy a jumper with an 'S' on the front next time."

"I beg your pardon?" she frowned.

Charlie snorted and Bill shrugged and shook his head.

"Never mind."

**End**

* * *

_A/N Much love and appriciation to Sarah (PutMoneyInThyPurse) for her work on this little fic. I enjoyed making her squee!_

_Thanks to all who reviewed too, glad you liked my baby Weasley's I've grown very fond of writing a bit of Ickle Ronniekins in everything I write now so I thought I'd have a crack at doing a whole fic back then._

_Now let's get back to writing Within These Walls and torturing the hell out of the adult version of him the way we all like it!_

_PS Happy Summer Solstice to you all. I did want to post this yesterday as a solstice treat but the site wouldn't let me upload the chapter (it still won't...I had to export an existing chapter, wipe it and then paste this over, what a palarva!)_


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